Triglyceride fat

Abstract

Process for the preparation of an edible triglyceride fat which is able to structure a liquid oil which process comprises the steps selecting a triglyceride fat A and a triglyceride fat B, interesterifying a mixture containing fat A and fat B in a ratio chosen from the range 80:20 to 20:80, where fat A is a fat which is natural and which contains at least 35 wt. % of stearic acid residues and less than 5 wt. % residues of polyunsaturated fatty acids and where fat B contains at least 40 wt. % of saturated fatty acid residues with a chain length of 12 or 14 carbon atoms and which process is characterized in that fat A is selected from the group consisting of Allanblackia fat, Pentadesma fat, Kokum fat and Sonchy fat. The resulting fat enables the preparation of a natural fat phase for use in spread manufacture.

Description

[0001] The present invention deals with a process for the preparation of a hardstock fat suitable for structuring a liquid fat phase.BACKGROUND AND THE RELATED ART[0002] Natural vegetable fats predominantly have a liquid consistency at ambient temperature. When a more solid consistency is needed, e.g. for the manufacture of plastic emulsion spreads, a hardstock fat is incorporated in the oil. In a processed W / O-emulsion spread the oil phase consists of a liquid oil which is structured with a lattice of hardstock fat crystals. By structuring the fat phase the spread obtains the desired plasticity and emulsion stability. The quality of the hardstock fat and the amount needed for oil structuring are inversely related.[0003] Natural vegetable fats which have hardstock functionality are rare. Natural fats in the context of this specification are fats which as such are present in their non-genetically modifified source organism, particularly in the seeds or fruits of particular plants. Fo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention relates to a process for preparing a hardstock fat for structuring a liquid fat phase in a spread. The invention aims to provide a hardstock fat that is natural and can be used in non-genetically modified vegetable fats. The invention also aims to provide a hardstock fat that does not contain a high level of palmitic acid, which is a saturated fatty acid that has been associated with negative health effects. The invention proposes a process for preparing a hardstock fat using a combination of cocoa butter and palm oil, which has a high level of saturated fatty acids but does not require hydrogenation or genetical modification. The resulting hardstock fat has good structuring ability and ensures a good mouthfeel of the final spread product."

Problems solved by technology

However, use of cocoa butter as hardstock fat for spread preparation entails serious disadvantages.

Further, products prepared with cocoa butter suffer from severe re-crystallisation phenomena.

Coarse grains are feared in spread preparation since these would easily spoil the product's consistency.

Finally, cocoa butter generally is too expensive to serve as hardstock fat in margarine manufacture.

On its own its structuring functionality is insufficient for the manufacture of good products.

Besides its insufficient structuring ability, palm oil also suffers from the abundant presence of POP and PPO type triglycerides that post-crystallize as undesired fat grains in the final fat spread.

Both techniques result in structuring fats which cause a prohibitively bad oral response.

Although with palm oil after proper modification a hardstock fat can be obtained which is quite satisfactory from the point of view of good structuring ability and of ensuring a good mouthfeel of the final spread product, this natural fat, just like cocoa butter, unfortunately suffers from an undesirably high content of palmitic acid.

A high Keys value means that consumption of the fat adversely affects the blood cholesterol level.

The use of fractionation as described hereinbefore for the upgrading of palm oil, is not desired either, since such fractionation inherently results in the generation of a secondary product stream which has to be disposed of.

Moreover the only vegetable stearic acid containing fat which delivers a suitable fractionated fat is said shea fat and not without necessarily refining by wet fractionation which process is considered non-natural and which makes shea fat too expensive for use in common spread manufacture.

Although the fats as such were known since long, their use for the manufacture of edible emulsion spreads was not yet recognized and particularly not their oil structuring ability.